Aug. 30, 2010
Sonja Alexander
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1761
sonja.r.alexander@nasa.gov
Jon Hornstein
Internet Archive, San Francisco
415-561-6767
hornstein@archive.org
Jason Khoury
Yahoo!, Sunnyvale, Calif.
408-368-3753
jkhoury@yahoo-inc.com
RELEASE: 10-186
NASA, INTERNET ARCHIVE AND FLICKR LAUNCH HISTORIC IMAGE COLLECTION
WASHINGTON -- Three compilations of images from more than half a
century of NASA history are available for comment on a section of the
photo-sharing site Flickr known as The Commons.
Visitors to NASA on The Commons can help tell the photos' story by
adding tags, or keywords, to the images to identify objects and
people. In addition, viewers can communicate with other visitors by
sharing comments. These contributions will help make the images
easier to find online and add insight about NASA's history.
The capability to interact with these already-public photos is the
result of a partnership between NASA, Flickr from Yahoo! in
Sunnyvale, Calif., and Internet Archive, a non-profit digital library
based in San Francisco.
Three sets of photos share a common theme of NASA beginnings. The
"Launch and Takeoff" set captures iconic spacecraft and aircraft
taking flight. "Building NASA" spotlights ground-breaking events and
the construction of some of NASA's one-of-a-kind facilities. The
"Center Namesakes" set features photos of the founders and
figureheads of NASA's 10 field centers. To view NASA on The Commons
images, visit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasacommons
"NASA's long-standing partnership with Internet Archive and this new
one with Yahoo!'s Flickr provides an opportunity for the public to
participate in the process of discovery," said Debbie Rivera, lead
for the NASA Images project at the agency's headquarters in
Washington. "In addition, the public can help the agency capture
historical knowledge about missions and programs through this new
resource and make it available for future generations."
The Commons was launched with the Library of Congress to increase
access to publicly-held photography collections and provide a way for
the public to contribute information and knowledge.
"NASA on The Commons is bringing literally out-of-these-world images
to Flickr," said Douglas Alexander, general manager of Flickr. "We
are thrilled to be working with NASA to offer such a rich archive and
provide amazing insight into this country's space program and its
early beginnings."
As the project leader, the New Media Innovation Team at NASA's Ames
Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., enlisted the help of NASA
photography and history experts to compile the three image sets for
The Commons. The group will continue to create and release new photo
sets that highlight different elements, themes or achievements.
Through a competitive process, NASA selected the Internet Archive in
2007 to organize a comprehensive online compilation of the agency's
vast collection of photographs, historic film and video on the NASA
Images website. Launched in 2008, NASAimages.org provides hundreds of
thousands of images and thousands of hours of video, HD video and
audio content available free to the public for download.
"Sharing important assets like NASA photography is the core mission of
the Internet Archive. Through this partnership with NASA and Flickr,
NASA on The Commons is bringing these images to a vast audience and
providing an opportunity for the public to give fresh insight and
increase our shared knowledge of NASA in all its varied activities,"
said Jon Hornstein, director of the NASA Images Project at the
Internet Archive in San Francisco.
For more information and to see the image collection, visit:
http://www.nasaimages.org
For more information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov
For more information about Internet Archive, visit:
http://www.archive.org
-end-